ZAYA.app developed by the Sofia-based GR Consulting Ltd was recognized as a Microsoft #BuildFor2030 Hackathon Hero. ZAYA was included in a list of 15 projects from around the world, for their excellent entries and solution potential and impact. With its #BuildFor2030 initiative, Microsoft aims to promote environmentally and life-changing solutions and services that meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – a set of 17 areas focused on creating a more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient world by 2030. ZAYA is a virtual library of instructions for using household appliances and applies artificial intelligence, voice assistant, and other technologies to facilitate the maintenance of household appliances throughout their life cycle. Among the 15 “heroes” in Microsoft #BuildFor2030 Hackathon are companies from the United States, India, Australia and Canada, and from Europe – Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
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Bulgaria’s largest producer and distributor of organic food Smart Organic has increased its sales by 30% over the past year. The company is building a new warehouse and production site in Knyazhevo and plans to build yet another plant. Thus, the company will increase its production capacity and introduce new products in order to meet the growing demand for its products in key markets. The company’s team currently consists of 280 people and continues to grow. At the end of 2021, Smart Organic attracted nearly BGN 6 million from the SME beam growth programme on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange and acquired a distributor in the Netherlands. This year the company plans acquisition in Germany. For its success on the German market, Smart Organic received the “German Economy Award” in the SME category by the German-Bulgarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Details can be found in the interview here.
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With a new EUR 12 million investment, the Danish furniture and home goods chain JYSK will expand its base in the Bozhurishte Industrial Zone. The company’s logistics center near Sofia started operations in 2019 and currently supplies not only in Bulgaria but also in Greece, Romania, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Serbia, as well as in franchise stores in Azerbaijan, Albania, Kosovo, Moldova and Northern Macedonia. The facility impresses with its two towers, in which operations are fully automated. The newly built facility will be located on a new 14,170 square meters and will add 33 new ramps for loading and unloading. With the investment, JYSK is expanding its capacity to serve its markets in the Balkans, including Turkey, where the chain plans to open stores next year.
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The Latvian company Mission Space, leading enabler and provider of satellite-based space weather monitoring has signed a contract with the Sofia-based nanosatellite company EnduroSat to launch into orbit a set of high energy particle detectors in space. The detectors will be on EnduroSat CubeSat platform. The release is scheduled for Q4 2022. The project aims at helping satellite operators detect solar storms early, quantify risks and monitor increased levels of radiation for better asset protection. Read more about the joint project here.
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SessionStack attracted funding of EUR 750,000, of which 700,000 come from BrightCap Ventures, and the rest is an angel investment from Telerik co-founder Boyko Yaramov. With the investment, the company plans to boost sales, marketing activities and further upgrades on its product. The SessionStack product is used by developers, product managers, customer service experts and UX designers and helps them find and fix problems with their product or service in less time. It allows companies with web applications to get a detailed idea of the user path, possible product quality improvements, user experience and more. Nearly 65% of the clients using the SessionStack tool are US-based companies and organizations, and the rest are from Europe and Australia.
Source: Sofia Investment Agency